The proliferation of subscription television programming, the increasing number of available channels, and the corresponding increase in television programming have led to continued development of onscreen program directories and guides. Such onscreen programming solutions, collectively referred to herein as electronic program guides, have ranged from program information for each channel scrolling vertically across the screen to user controllable interfaces that allow users to examine scheduling information describing television programs currently on-air and to be broadcast in the future.
In direct broadcast satellite (DBS) systems, EPG information is periodically downloaded and updated, usually at regular intervals. Prior art approaches have allowed users to examine scheduling information that has been downloaded to the client device, either by scrolling sequentially through listings corresponding to one-half hour or hour increments or by directly accessing individual timeslots. Further, some EPGs may allow a user to directly access desired programs or even set programs to be recorded automatically.
Known EPGs provide access to program information in various ways. EPGs generally provide program information, such as the channel, the time slot and duration, and the title of the program. Other information about the program, such as a brief description of the content and/or the names of the actors, may also be presented.
With the ever-increasing number of channels available for user selection, EPGs are becoming increasingly lengthy. That is, for each additional channel included in the broadcast, a corresponding additional entry needs to be included in the EPG. As such, users are finding it increasingly difficult to scroll through the various listings to find desired programming. As such, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods providing an electronic programming guide that is easy to navigate, and allows a user to more quickly identify and select desirable programming. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present disclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and background.